Green areas and public health: improving wellbeing and physical activity in the urban context

Introduction. The green areas play an important role in improving the environmental quality and climate of the city. However, despite the undoubted importance of these areas, the benefits to public health are still under investigation. Results. The Authors perform a review of studies on the relationship between health and green areas and describe the main areas for which evidence on this relationship is currently available. They include: effects on air quality, on social cohesion, on mental health, with particular reference to the stress, and on physical activity. Conclusions. Most of the evidence comes from cross-sectional and descriptive studies and the approaches used to measure the association show themselves to be often unsatisfactory. The Authors conclude the review stressing the need for greater integration between the different professionals involved in urban planning and in health care analysis in order to identify research approaches more appropriate to understand such complex issues, striving toward a planning design of green areas that will satisfy both environmental sustainability and health requirements.